The Power Of Intention

Intention is a hugely valuable force to understand and apply in life. People use the word all the time, but I often get clients coming to me confused and trying to understand how to work with this power.

Have you ever met someone whose very presence is like a magnet when you are around them? Children and animals love them, and without trying to, they appear to radiate easy and authentic power?

Then you’ve met someone who, whether they are conscious of it or not, is applying a clear force of intention in their life.

There is a saying in the world of energy medicine – Energy follows intention. 

Much like driving a car or boat, when you intend to go to a specific point, you get there. You don’t really fuss over the minute details of your trip. You set the intention and apply the gas and go. 

But what does it mean if you try to do this in your life and you hit obstacles that keeps you from your intended goal?

We all know this place, right? 

We go out on an edge and make a plan to create or do something, and either we fail to leave the runway or we take flight only to abort mid air because something either external or internal has stopped us.

We have run smack dab into an issue with our intention.

We did everything right… we picked a destination and we pressed the gas, but something doesn’t want us to go.

Whatever has come into your life to slow your roll, whether is a badly timed cold or flu, or an attack of procrastination and distraction, most likely you are facing a split in your intention.

Energetically, our impulse to create comes from an initial inspiration. 

A word about inspiration. It literally translates into being breathed by spirit so we are talking about divine guidance here. There is a huge difference from wanting to manifest to satisfy your ego’s unmet needs (ie, money so people will like you) and manifesting from a place of true alignment.

Alignment comes from clearly accessing your heart and receiving what is there for your best and highest good. Sometimes, what is there may not be what you want on the surface, but it is always what is best for your soul.

For example, first comes the impulse – I feel inspired to learn. Then this feeling becomes an intention – I am going back to school. The intention travels all the way down from the head, through the heart which infuses it with our passion, down into our belly where it soaks up our visceral life force and then down into the ground to be planted so it can be ‘grown’ in reality. This is the path towards clear manifestation.

Note the language – I AM going back to school, not ‘I want to’ or ‘I’m trying to’. It just is. That is the statement of someone who has decided to make it happen, even if they don’t know how yet.

When we set our intention, the above alchemy happens, and ideally our intention manifests.

When it doesn’t manifest we have to look at where we are energetically holding an opposite intention, or a split in intention. Think of our intention like a river of energy moving in its natural direction, towards manifestation. It comes from spirit above and down into the earth so it can manifest into matter. It only goes one direction, right?  Now think of our split intention as another river of energy traveling against the main current. Not exactly a recipe for flow.

In fact, from this perspective we could call it (conscious or unconscious) self sabotage. 

We are all living at different stages of awareness around our various split intentions. From complete ignorance of their existence (the person that blames themselves and everything around them for their failed attempts), to aware and working with them (the person who is loving themselves and starting to change the energetic flow by healing their splits), to those that have mostly realized their splits, are flowing energy in an unobstructed way and seem to live charmed lives.

I hold tremendous respect and honour for wherever each of us is on this spectrum. 

We are not born into this world with the same privileges – physically, emotionally and mentally. We can continue this truth and also say we are not born into the same place spiritually. 

We are all at different stages of self realization.

If you are ready to cultivate compassion for wherever you find yourself today, then you are ready to start the work necessary to manifest a life that meets for your true needs.

And if you learn how to give that to yourself, then one day you will have that magnetic quality and easy, self possessed confidence that will have you creating a life of flow and ease.